The following excerpts are from an article written for PuddleDancer Press called “Using Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to Address the Roots and Impacts of Extremism” by Alan Rafael Seid, a CNVC Certified Trainer. We’re reposting it as a series (with permission) in the hopes that you might read and consider each section over time and reflect on how you might use your skills to connect with others during these difficult times. In contribution to this year’s Season of Nonviolence, we’ll archive the series in the SNV section of our website.
Excerpted from Using Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to Address the Roots and Impacts of Extremism by Alan Rafael Seid. Please visit PuddleDancer Press to learn more about Nonviolent Communication.
Key Root Causes of Extremism
1. Unmet Needs:
At its heart, extremism often stems from unmet human needs. These could include needs for safety, belonging, meaning, purpose, autonomy, and/or significance.
(With regard to the last one, significance, I include it here both in the sense of mattering as well as in the sense of having power in your world. Many people have lost a sense of their needs mattering within social and political structures, as distinct from but often along with, a sense of powerlessness to address what is not working).
When these needs are persistently unfulfilled, individuals understandably give in to a temptation to meet them through rigid ideologies or groups that promise meaning, acceptance, or power.
When I say “understandably” it’s because (1) I don’t want us to underestimate the real suffering people experience in the world, along with their desire to address that suffering; (2) there is often a perceived lack of alternatives offered by society, and; (3) when a radicalizing influence shows up it appears to offer something valuable. This includes explanatory value (those people—fill in the blank—are why you are suffering!) as well as relief by giving people validation for their pain, along with belonging, significance, and the promise of easing their pain.
2. Systemic Oppression:
Systemic oppression is real—even if people like me who have unearned advantages (a.k.a. privilege) don’t perceive it because it doesn’t affect us.
For example, living in the US and presenting as a typical White male, I rarely have to worry when the police stop me for a traffic violation. If I were a black male, a simple traffic stop is understandably perceived to be potentially life threatening.
White people can exist just fine without even being aware of this. When it doesn’t show up as a problem because it’s not a problem for me—that is one definition of what we mean by privilege.
There are countless examples of how systemic advantages are tilted toward and away from specific groups. It makes sense that the groups most affected are the ones who perceive systemic oppression most clearly.
Marginalization, inequality, and systemic injustice create conditions where extremism can flourish.
Individuals who feel excluded or disenfranchised may turn to radical ideologies as a way of mattering, asserting their agency, finding community, or resisting perceived oppression.
3. Alienation:
Modern societies, with their fast-paced, individualistic structures, often leave people feeling disconnected from their communities and even themselves.
Alienation can foster vulnerability to extremist recruitment, which often targets individuals looking for connection, empowerment, and a sense of belonging.
The initial emotional high of belonging and mattering lowers critical thinking barriers to ideologies that are, in fact, destructive to the individual as well as to families, community, and society.
4. Disinformation and Misinformation:
Disinformation is deliberate, whereas misinformation is when someone spreads information they think is correct when it is not.
In the digital age, the rapid spread of dis- and misinformation exacerbates extremism.
False narratives, information silos, and social media algorithms that support echo chambers all reinforce polarized thinking—making it harder for individuals to critically evaluate their beliefs and easier for extremist ideologies to take root.
topics in this series:
The role of NVC in discerning truth
Example: A family member confronts misinformation online using empathic listening and curiosity
